1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card-edge board connector and particularly to a card-edge board connector for electrically connecting a card-edge board to another board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In electronic equipment, a technology is known to mount an edge-connector type card such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect)-standard card or a memory card (hereinafter also referred to as card-edge board) onto a mother card (hereinafter referred only as board).
FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views showing an example of a conventional card edge connector. Referring to FIG. 3, the example of the conventional card edge connector is comprised by a relay board 13, a connector 14 and a board 12. The board 12 is a mother card as an example. The connector 14 is mounted on the board 12.
A sub-board 15 is connected to the relay board 13, and a recess portion 16 in which this sub-board 15 can be fitted is provided on the connector 14. Also, a recess portion 17 in which a board 11, which is a card-edge board, is fitted is provided on the relay board 13 on the surface opposing the mounting surface of the sub-board 15. This board 11 is inserted into the recess portion 17 of the relay board 13. And the sub-board 15 of the relay board 13 is inserted into the recess portion 16 of the connector 14. By this, a connecting terminal of the board 11, not shown, is electrically connected to the board 12 via the relay board 13 and the connector 14.
FIG. 4 is an example when the board 11 is mounted on the board 12. As shown in this FIG., in order to mount and connect the board 11 having the card-edge connecting terminal at the position parallel with the board 12, the angle of the board 11 is changed using the relay board 13.
On the other hand, an invention is disclosed as an example of this type of connector that a pair of detachable connectors is provided and one of the connectors is made capable of rotational movement with a hinge. Different print boards are connected to the both connectors (See Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-142481, p. 7, 11. 9 to 17, FIG. 4)
Also, as another example, an invention is disclosed that a pair of plug and socket is provided and the plug is inserted into the socket and rotated by 90 degrees. The socket is provided on the board and the plug is provided at the tip end of a lead wire (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-135382, p. 11, 1. 7 to p. 12, 1. 7, FIGS. 10 and 11)
Also, as another example, a connection structure is disclosed in which one printed board attached with a male connector and the other print board with a female connector are angularly changed within a range of 90 degrees from the state where they are connected on the same plane in the parallel direction and the state where they are connected perpendicularly (See Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-152187, p. 2, 11. 5 to 11, FIG. 4)
Also, as another example, a connector for flat conductor is disclosed that a housing and an operating member are held capable of rotational movement and the flat conductor is made capable of insertion into the operating member. The rotation angle of the housing and the operating member is 90 degrees. (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-230005, paragraphs 0011 to 0012, FIGS. 1 and 2)
Also, as another example, a connector is disclosed that a main housing and a sub housing are axially bonded together capable of rotation. A multi-polar flat wire is inserted into the main housing (See Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-259992, paragraph 0005, FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 9)
Conventionally, when mounting a card-edge type card, a structure was adopted that the card-edge type card is held in parallel with a mother card in order to lower the mounting height. That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the relay board 13 is used to change the angle of the board 11 by 90 degrees.
However, the conventional technique using the relay board 13 has the following problems. The first problem is that the necessity of the relay board 13 increases the number of components.
The second problem is that, since the position of the board 11 is fixed when it is connected to the relay board 13, a signal waveform of a portion covered by the board 11 in the circuit of the board 12 can not be observed.
The third problem is that, though the card-edge type card can have its connecting terminals disposed in two rows on the front and back of the card, a conductor in contact with the connecting terminal is folded by 90 degrees in the relay board 13 when the relay board 13 is used. Then, a difference is caused in the conductor length between the inside and the outside, which results in a difference in propagation time of a signal and leads to a malfunction.
On the other hand, the prior arts disclosed in the patent documents 1 to 5 are totally different from the present invention in the point that none of them relates to a card-edge board connector. Also, the constitution of the connector when the connecting terminals are provided in two rows as well as the constitution that the rotational angle of a pair of connectors is set to 90 degrees clockwise and counterclockwise are not disclosed in these patent documents 1 to 5.
An object of the present invention is to provide a card-edge board connector which does not need a relay board, does not make connection of a card-edge board fixed to a certain position or does not cause a difference in propagation time of a signal even if the connecting terminals of the card-edge board are disposed in two rows.